Sometimes to see the big picture, we must look at a smaller one. NY state and Cuomo can show us were the Democratic Party has gone wrong, and WHY it will continue to fail us if we refuse to learn.
Now, to quote Kriss Kross
JUMP JUMP (below the orange fold)
Cuomo who has such grandiose visions of being POTUS wanted an election result that showed a mandate. But instead he got a different kind of mandate.
With most precincts reporting let us look at some numbers
Note: You will have to navigate from this link to governor results, can't direct link
Cuomo received 52.65% of the votes hardly a mandate
Cuomo recieved a total of 1,942,705 votes
Gov. Andrew Cuomo won re-election with what is probably the fewest number of votes of any New York governor since Franklin Roosevelt in 1930.
Again hardly a mandate
In the fusion voting of NY state, many smaller parties endorse one of the two major candidates to try and gain concessions. One such party the WFP (Working Families Party) has/had been seen as a progressive voice for Democrats. However, the WFP gave in to Cuomo amidst promises made (and already subsequently broken).
Many Democrats already frustrated by "Governor 1%er" and the WFP in some progressive's minds of selling them out protested in a few different ways
1) Voted Green instead of Dem/WFP. This is very significant. The Green Party never goes along with the fusion voting almost never backing a Dem candidate (and of course never a repub).
Green 4.75 % 175,250
WFP 3.25 % 120,028
Both easily cleared the 50,00 to keep ballot access, however due to numbers, the WFP will lose the prize of line C (3rd Row), and will actually be relegated to E (5th row), with Green as D (4th Row)
Who made out on this? Believe it or not in this "blue" state, the C Row will be
Conservative Party 6.40 % 236,329
2) Voting BLANK for governor
BLANK 2.18 % 80,421
3) No idea the number, but I know a few who out of total disgust did the worst thing...voted ASStorino
4) STAYED HOME --> With the historic number of low votes that Cuomo got (referenced above), this had additional impacts
Louise Slaughter NY-25 was thought to have a very safe seat, but as of now it could go to a recount.
I don't know how many state Senate races were decided by the Cuomo depressing factor, but even without the turn-coat IDC (allegedly Democrat) members who caucus with the republicans, the republicans will have a 1 seat State Senate majority as of now
The damage that Cuomo did is indisputable, but what can it tell us about the Democratic Party as a whole nationwide?
When you enact republican economic policies, THE BASE WILL RUN AWAY!
Yes some of this is in part to normally low numbers during a non presidential election cycle, but due to the record low number of votes that Cuomo received, we can tell that ...
ACT LIKE A REPUBLICAN AND LOSE
When nationwide progressive ballot measures pass, yet we lose a historic number of Senate seats (even given the circumstance of 6th year president)
Cuomo rejects progressive values, and look what happened in NY (and the effects down ballot)
We need LEADERS in the Democratic Party that push PROGRESSIVE VALUES
Should this not happen, expect more of these results.
As Cuomo has MUCH republican support, his rejection of progressive values causing damage down ballot was not a problem for him, IT WAS A FEATURE!
It is time we stop letting our own leaders undercut us! It is time we TRULY demand better Democrats!
We MUST endorse a true progressives. If we must, we need to start actively pushing out candidates like Cuomo! If we allow the Democratic Party run candidates like Cuomo, don't be surprised to see real republicans beat out republican-lite Democrats!